


Encamisada

by gremlinny



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Blind Character, Gen, Hospitals, Pre-Canon, handwavey medical stuff, i will protect Matty with my life, jack is the best dad ever, probably not canon compliant but I do what I want, young!Matt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 01:11:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16075238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gremlinny/pseuds/gremlinny
Summary: Jack grabs Matt’s hands, leaning onto the bed and trying to pin down his son in the gentlest way possible so that he doesn’t agitate any broken bones. “Matty, you’re in the hospital. You’re in the hospital, you’re safe here. It’s Dad. It’s Dad, I’m right here,” he says softly, but Matt doesn’t stop struggling.





	Encamisada

Jonathan Murdock couldn’t help but replay the scene in his head over and over as he gripped his unconscious son’s hand in the ICU.

A biodiesel manufacturing company was transporting hazardous waste across town, high above the speed limit. Matt had pushed a man out of the path of the oncoming truck, and had been promptly struck head-on. The barrels of potassium oxide the truck was carrying had spilled over, splashing into Matt’s face.   
The boy had been rushed into the emergency room, and promptly taken in for eye surgery as soon as possible in hopes of saving his vision.

Jack was trying to be optimistic, but he’d heard the panic in Matt’s voice when his son screamed that he couldn’t see. There might be a way to restore his sight, but there might not be. And aside from that, there were other injuries to worry about too. Cracked ribs, a concussion, broken bones. Even if Matt came out of this with normal vision, it would still be a hard recovery.

If he wakes up, that is. Apparently the concussion had been more serious than the doctors anticipated; he’d been unresponsive for a week, so far. Not exactly a coma, but he wasn’t just asleep or knocked out. It was complicated and Jack didn’t want to dwell on the thought that his son might not get up from this. So he researched everything he could find, prayed for the things he didn’t understand, and maintained a constant vigil at his son’s bedside.

A lubricant eye gel was to be applied three times a day, either by Jack or a nurse. The first time he was directed at how to proceed, he’d gingerly taken the bandages off his son’s face and tried to keep his hands from shaking as he touched the inside of Matt’s lower eyelid with a gel-covered finger. He was scared he’d mess up, that his hand would slip and he’d hurt Matty more. The nurse had to ease him out of an anxiety attack and had changed the prescription from a gel to normal eyedrops. Jack could handle those every time without fear.  
He also watched the doctors’ methods of administering medication and fluids through an NG tube, and he hoped Matt was on enough painkillers to not feel the plastic that was in his nose and at the back of his throat.

Matt had been down for the count for three and a half weeks when Jack hears the EKG spike as he gagged on the NG tube, flailing in a panic.  
“What,” Matty gasps, with a white-knuckled grip on the railing of the bed, “what, where— I, I-I don’t— It hurts, please, please make it stop, it hurts!”

Jack grabs Matt’s hands, leaning onto the bed and trying to pin down his son in the gentlest way possible so that he doesn’t agitate any broken bones. “Matty, you’re in the hospital. You’re in the hospital, you’re safe here. It’s Dad. It’s Dad, I’m right here,” he says softly, but Matt doesn’t stop struggling. So Jack takes one of Matt’s hands and brings it up to his face, pressing his palm flat against his cheek. “It’s Dad, Daddy’s here, baby, feel my face. It’s me, it’s me, I’m here.”

Matt’s breathing is still heavy and his heartbeat is rapid, but he stops fighting and reaches with his other hand toward his dad, cupping Jack’s cheeks and mapping out as much as he can before he starts to panic again. “Dad. Dad, Dad, Daddy, I can’t see. I can’t see, it’s so _dark_ in here, Dad, I-I-I can’t— _can’t see–“_

“Sssshh, baby, I know. You’ve got bandages over your eyes, Matty, you got hurt. Feel my face, don’t be scared, don’t be scared. I’ve got you.”  
He reaches over the side of the bed to call a nurse, and Matt gags on the NG tube again and he’s crying, and Jack is terrified and relieved at the same time. His son is awake and alert, but he’s in pain, and Jack so desperately wants to help. A nurse swiftly comes into the room and Jack is ushered out, internally panicking at the sound of his son’s crying. He can hear the nurse trying to soothe Matt.

“Honey, you need to calm down, okay? Do you want me to give you something so it doesn’t hurt?”

Jack says a quick prayer under his breath and makes his way to the cafeteria.

***

Matt was fighting to stay awake when he heard Dad’s muffled footsteps get closer to his room. He’d been given an anesthetic to calm him down, and it was like he was underwater, everything was so distant, but it couldn’t entirely dull his pain. The sheets scratched at his skin, he could feel his broken bones, and he was all too aware of the tube down his throat. He wanted it out.

The door opens and Dad walks over to his bed, taking Matt’s hand. “Hey, Matty. How you holdin’ up? Do you need anything?”

It hurts his throat to talk, but Matt needs answers. “ ‘m scared, Dad. What happened?”

“Matty, I don’t-“

“Dad, please. Please tell me.”

Dad grits his teeth and his grip on Matt’s hands tightens. “You been out for three weeks, sweetie. You hit your head real hard when that truck got to ya, you’ve got some broken bones too.”

The car accident. The barrels on the back of the truck, the liquid splashing onto his face. “My eyes,” he says softly, “what about my eyes? It didn’t hurt at first when I was on the ground, but then it burned so bad. Everything got dark— I passed out, didn’t I?”  
Matt wants it to be true. The reason everything got dark was because he’d lost consciousness, that’s all there was to it, he wants to believe that.

“Oh, _Matty_ ,” Dad whispers, and his voice cracks, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Dad…?”

“They tried, baby, they really did. They put you in that ambulance and they flushed your eyes out with water the whole ride to the ER, they got you into emergency surgery and they _tried_ , they did everything they could have done. They weren’t so sure at first, and they did a few scans to look at your concussion and those broken bones, and when they looked at your _eyes_ , Matty, they told me that—“

“I’m blind,” Matt interrupts, and it feels like he got hit by that truck all over again.

Dad’s trying to cry as quietly as possible. “There wasn’t any response to light or movement. I swear to God that they did all they could, baby, I swear.”

All at once, the weight of the world crashes down on Matt, and he hugs Dad as tightly as he can as the both of them grieve.  
He’ll get through this, he knows it. He has to, because he’s a Murdock, and Murdocks might get knocked down, but they always get up.

For now, though, Matt lets himself cry. The tears burn his eyes and face, and he lets himself imagine for a moment that maybe it’ll wash away the darkness.


End file.
